“Coffee is a language in itself”, says Jackie Chan. A freshly brewed cup of coffee on a breezy day is a language of joy. ‘Let’s go out for a cup of coffee’, is a language of love, communication, and sharing. ‘I need a cup of coffee’, is instant morning gratification. Coffee, the whiff of it, works more magically than an alarm clock. The essence of coffee makes life more beautiful. Roasted beans making way to your home fills your heart with solace. Cups of coffee placed by your bedside are the language of love that someone thinks enough about you to start your day with a wonderful sight of coffee. Office breaks become a relief with coffee breaks. Work is started again after a good cup of coffee, stress is released with sips of coffee. Conversations are sweetened when accompanied with coffee.

Coffee is a speciality in itself. Now, wonder if coffee is made even more special, how delicious it would be? You’re already drooling, aren’t you? “A cup of gourmet coffee shared with a friend is happiness tasted and time well spent”, is quite a saying, I sense. It’s an invitation in itself to go beyond that usual, hasty, monotonous cup of coffee. It’s an invitation for more. And, who wouldn’t seek more, if I ask?

Specialty Coffee is the supreme quality a coffee can have. In proper words, there is no coffee as refined, as flawless, as divine as specialty coffee. It’s titled as the highest graded quality on the face of this earth. The yearning for the best grade coffee dates back to 1974. Erna Nutsen curated the term ‘Speciality Coffee’ in one of the journals titled – Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. Beans, how they are chosen and roasted, speaks volumes about the coffee we love and admire. As we say, “the power lies in the roots”, for coffee, the taste is embedded deeply in coffee beans and in the process they’re roasted.

Speaking more precisely, the growing and harvesting of Specialty Coffee is confined to high altitude places. It’s grown with extreme nurturing and attention. Farmers take extra care of this coffee, hence you know, the name is more befitting. It’s like specialty coffee is the special child of the farmers with its own sets of tantrums yet specialties.

Specialty Coffee is even defined as a coffee that is devoid of any defects, has adequate size, is sufficiently dried, and passes all the grading tests with a score of 80 on a 100-point scale. The values could even be 84.99, 85.99, 89.99 so on. It should be noted that specialty coffee isn’t like your usual commercial coffee. It’s rather stored, sold and delivered as whole beans, in bulk amounts or pound bags.

Farmers And Specialty Coffee is a lifetime bond, to say the least. As specialty coffee grows in specific altitudes, the farmers equip themselves enough to understand the climate changes to get the harvest as expected. It’s worth noting that growing specialty coffee isn’t a short investment. In fact, it demands years of investment and care before it’s harvested. Not everyone can devote so much of time to this particular coffee. It requires perfection and perfection definitely comes with a heavy price. Refining it is another challenge that not all farmers can take up for tons of reasons. However, the reward lies in the quality this coffee strongly promises.

Specialty Coffee is a consequence, a product, crafted with constant prioritization of coffee over a long period of time. Farmers spend their lifetimes in choosing coffee, over and over again. They sacrifice their time, hardwork and attention to get the very best of the coffee the world has ever had a chance to taste before the existence of specialty coffee. Kudos to the farmers!

Now, let’s explore how specialty coffee is good for farmers.

With perfection, a lot of chunk is reduced, discarded and avoided too. To get the best of the coffees, a lot of challenges appear for the farmers associated with speciality coffee.

1) Rejection of coffee beans:

 As the farmers devote their life to this particular coffee, there still remain possibilities of rejections. Major chunks of coffee beans are discarded. The question here is not quantity, it’s only and only quality. When beans are harvested, chances are that all the beans won’t have the same quality. It’s a natural process and farmers can’t do anything about it. They can only do their best but nature has its ways too. So, on the basis of quality check, a lot of beans get rejected because of which the efforts and labour of farmers suffers a major blow. They don’t get paid for the rejected beans and it definitely is a major concern for them.

2) Unpredictable rainfall:

Nature is beyond our control and the more it’s unpredictable, the more challenging is growing specialty coffee. Some places, for example, Ethiopia is suffering quite a lot because of unpredictable weather as they deem coffee worthy enough of affecting their future.

3) Irregular specialty coffee prices:

Market shifts, so do the coffee prices. But, when it comes to specialty coffee, this price leads to a huge financial loss on specialty coffee farmers as they do nothing short of miracle to bring us the best coffee beans. When they don’t compromise, these compromised prices devalue specialty coffee, which again shouldn’t be done.

4) Soil degradation and increasing pests:

As already discussed, specialty coffee demands best of the conditions for its growth. Degraded soil poses huge challenges to its growth. With increasing pests, there is more requirement of attention and hardwork. And, there is this sense of restlessness to be more cautious and active in the field. Not a single off day is affordable. For, it’s not only about money but a lot is at stake. A lot could be ruined when it comes to speciality coffee in a single day, minute, second.

5) Poor infrastructure in place:

We all are aware of farmers in general suffer at the hands of management. Adding to that, there is poor infrastructure in place that gives immense space to exploitation as well as leds to a sense of dissatisfaction on farmers’ part. Speaking specifically of specialty coffee farmers, this does increase the impact on them tenfold considering the fact that they spend years together for that special and flawless coffee beans harvest. You would agree, won’t you?

Now, let’s explore how specialty coffee benefits specialty coffee farmers:

1) Specialty Coffee is loved and cherished by all:

Many recent surveys about specialty coffee are indicative of the fact that around 48% of US coffee lovers prefer specialty coffee. Globally, 3% of the world coffee production is of specialty coffee. On an average, 36% people drink specialty coffee everyday. The beans roasted with care spread love elsewhere. The magic of special coffee. The magic of hardwork.

2) Speciality Coffee never goes out of the trend:

The life of people revolves around coffee. Infact, it revolves around drinking the best coffee – the specialty coffee. So, farmers do benefit from the fact that the world needs the beans they roast and invest so much of their time on. Their hardwork is needed and treasured. No one says no the coffee with such a high quality. And, this particular coffee is winning hearts. So, the more people joining in to admire this coffee, the more there is space and approval for speciality coffee farmers. The more they are needed, the more they are valued for what they so passionately offer the world.

3) Specialty Coffee is not the coffee people brew at home:

39% people have claimed that the coffee they brew at home isn’t the same as speciality coffee. Quite obvious but this allows makes space for specialty coffee. When people don’t get the special taste at home, they ought to seek it elsewhere. Speciality Coffee, thus, doesn’t go unnoticed. It continues to remain in demand and for the right reasons.

4) Specialty Coffee is respected for its taste:

Almost everyone would agree of the fact that the taste of specialty coffee is matchless. Not just agreement, people respect and cherish this taste so much so that they go on to drink 3-4 cups per day. Respect and choosing this coffee go hand in hand or so it’s concluded.

5) Specialty Coffee has a distinct taste:

Specialty Coffee has a distinct taste, with each sip speaking flawless. This taste drives people far from home to either get it in pounds or visit the places known to serve this best. And, once tasted, you acknowledge how it’s not your usual cuppa but a cup molded with care, love and patience. The distinct taste stays.

6) Specialty Coffee boosts self esteem:

It’s like treating yourself to a richer taste. It’s like choosing the best for yourself after a long tiring day. It’s like choosing to begin your day with royalty and perfection. You might be wondering how one cup of this coffee can do so much for you, aren’t you? Well, the answer lies in the taste, the quality, the aroma. It’s a huge boost because when you purchase a royal product, you feel good about yourself.

The question remains – is it good for specialty farmers or not? Well, yes and no. Because, with a positive side to this coffee, there is exploitation and fluctuation. With specialty coffee admirers, there is demand for reduced prices and ways to get it a low prices. With respect for efforts of the farmers, there is burden on them of challenging weather conditions, dynamic temperatures, ever increasing pests and the lack of management in place. What is important though is that this coffee has a history of its own. Generations invest and speak their stories and memories associated with this coffee. It’s an art, an art not everyone can afford to invest in. It definitely has its merits and demerits. It’s upon the farmers to choose it completely or let it go. Because, for this coffee, you can never choose in-between. You’ve to go all way and invest a lifetime. The rewards are sweet too but the challenges are bitter as well.

Digging deeper, let’s explore yes and no:

Yes – Because this coffee is lifetime love of coffee lovers. People travel miles for the highest quality. It’s earned a name, a specific regard for the efforts that are invested. Quality isn’t compromised and everyone is aware of this truth. The history of farmers, their generations, continues through its production. The prices of this coffee can be improved associating it with the efforts and time. Many cafes are giving a special spot for this coffee. Many places are choosing the coffee name for their restaurants and cafes. Almost everyone craves to find out what this coffee is all about. The percentage of consumption of this coffee continues to increase each day. The percentage of people valuing this coffee will keep on growing too. So, a big yes, to the farmers, this coffee definitely is worth their time.

No – No because it’s challenging. Weather, social and other factors make its growth difficult and unpleasing. Lack of support from government adds to this ‘No’. Prices fluctuate posing financial threats to the farmers. Beans are rejected on a large scale which again isn’t fair (even if it’s needed) for the farmers. Increasing pests don’t make it easier too. All in all, the factors that contribute to the ‘No’ could be taken care of if we’re willing enough to support.

With our love for coffee, we can extend our support to specialty coffee farmers by buying from them and supporting the prices befitting their efforts. We can make it better for them by choosing to buy it as it is without haggling and disrespecting. We ought to acknowledge that what we are drinking and are privileged enough to drink is the sweat and toil of years of the farmers with infinite challenges and hurdles at every step of its growth.